St. Clair Little League off to strong start at state finals

GLADSTONE -The St. Clair 12-and-under Little League team appears to be peaking at the perfect time.

St. Clair won its second consecutive pool play game Saturday at the state finals in Gladstone.

St. Clair scored four runs in the first inning to blow past Centreville, 15-0, in four innings. Eli Lohi, Jackson Oles and Conner Shurkey combined for the victory on the mound. They scattered one hit and struck out eight combined.

Owen Blank had three hits to pace the St. Clair offense and Logan Legree, Carter Boullard and Cas Galvin each had two hits from the plate.

"The boys came out and scored four in the first to set the tone," St. Clair coach Matt Distelrath said. "We had good energy right off the bat, which was great to see. We had some guys who don't always pitch as much come in and (they) pitched great, giving us good innings."

St. Clair will return Sunday for their final pool play game against Kingsford, which is also undefeated. Tomorrow's game will decide which team will be the No. 1 seed next week when the elimination portion of the tournament begins.

"After two days, the boys have done a great job to put us in a good situation," coach Distelrath said. "(We're) looking forward to coming back tomorrow and going after another one."

Contact Joseph Hayes at (810) 989-6268 or at jahayes@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Joseph_Hayes11.